


A House in the Zodiac

by moemachina



Category: Final Fantasy Tactics
Genre: Drabble, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-22
Updated: 2016-01-22
Packaged: 2018-05-15 13:54:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,214
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5787727
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/moemachina/pseuds/moemachina
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way. It deepens like a coastal shelf.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A House in the Zodiac

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Nistelle](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nistelle/gifts).



> Back in 2007, I wrote [three zodiac-themed FFT drabbles](http://moemachina.livejournal.com/4042.html?thread=3530#t3530), and it was suggested that I should write the full dozen. 
> 
> Nine years later, HERE YOU GO.
> 
> (This story uses PSX-era spellings. Also, Teta/Tietra is poorly served here; I've done better by her [elsewhere](http://archiveofourown.org/works/207212/chapters/528197).)

**ARIES**

Something knocks against the inside of his skull. There is snow in his sleeves. There is blood in his mouth.

He tries to sit up several times before he succeeds.

An eternity later, he climbs to his feet. Around him lies snowy jumbles of limbs and bodies. He does not look closely at them. 

Nothing moves. Nothing breathes.

On a distant hill, he can see riders approaching. My brothers are coming, he thinks. 

With great deliberation, Ramza turns his back on them and begins to pick his slow, limping way past the fortress ruins and through the fields of winter.

  


**TAURUS**

"I brought you milk."

The boy rubbed at his wet cheeks and closed his eyes. "I don’t want it. Go away."

"And an apple," said the other boy as he laid it next to the chipped mug.

"No."

"And part of a cicada shell." This treasure joined the other offerings.

Delita opened his eyes. "Why are you still doing this? Can't you understand what people are saying to you?"

"Not really," Ramza said placidly. "My brothers say I’m too stupid to understand anything." He nudged the insect husk. "I found this by the pond. I can show you where, if you want."

  


**GEMINI**

Where one went, the other followed.

(Always in that order, always as a shadow behind the bright boy.)

How good of the Beoulves to take on those orphans, people said. How noble. How charitable. To be bound to that family was an honor in every way, people said. 

(And Ramza, white-faced, rounded the corner and found Delita standing in the darkness.

There was no point in asking if Delita had heard. He clearly had. 

"Come on," Ramza said instead. "Let's get lost." 

Delita smiled. "Let's never come back.")

It was a bond like blood, people said, and just as inescapable.

  


**CANCER**

His earliest memory is eating an apple with Dycedarg.

He doubts himself. How could he not? His brothers never ventured into his nursery; his brothers barely acknowledged his existence. The memory is false.

But the memory persists: Dycedarg, against the door frame, cutting a red apple into quarters. Ramza was old enough to walk, because he remembers standing against his brother's leg and craning his head to watch what Dycedarg did. He remembers biting into an apple slice and feeling the sticky juices smear his cheeks. 

He has every reason to doubt the memory, but still it remains. And festers.

  


**LEO**

Wherever he went, he was heralded by trumpets. Even his footstep was a proclamation. When he passed the nursery door, the children were waiting with expectant faces.

He paused. "Ramza? What are you doing?"

Ramza was cutting cloth for Alma's doll. He said, "Nothing, sir."

"Come, then," his father said. Ramza scrambled after him. 

They went down the hall. "You should be learning the sword by now."

Ramza's brothers had forbidden him a blade. Ramza merely said, "Yes, sir." 

"How old are you?"

"Seven, sir." 

His father nodded and touched Ramza's downy hair. "You will need something sharp and light."

  


**VIRGO**

A thud, an oath, and then two pairs of hands pulled Ramza through the window.

Delita, a sack over one shoulder, swung himself over the sill. "Evening, girls." 

"It's nearly dawn," Alma moaned. Teta, beside her, said nothing. 

"It's still going," Ramza said. "Would you like some little cakes? We snagged a good haul of little cakes." He smiled blearily at their long nightgowns.

"Prince Larg got drunk," Delita informed them, "and danced with a dog."

"I wish we could attend revels," Alma said. 

"Nonsense, child." Ramza handed a raspberry tart to his sister. "Your sensibilities are far too tender."

  


**LIBRA**

Returning at midnight, Ramza slipped on a tile, flailed off the roof, fell through thatching, and landed in a hayloft.

Lying there, Ramza felt peculiarly serene. Beneath him, he could hear chocobos whirring. In the new gap above, he could see stars and, eventually, Delita climbing unhurriedly down. 

"I haven't seen these constellations before," Ramza solemnly informed him.

"Damn," Delita said. "Did you break anything?"

"No," Ramza said. "Maybe." 

Delita pulled him to his feet. "You're going to have bruises tomorrow. And a hangover. How do you plan to climb the inner wall?" 

"I'll just hang onto you," Ramza said.

  


**SCORPIO**

Later, there would be a beating that left purple weals across Ramza's back, but for the moment, Dycedarg barely noticed him.

"Shh, let me see," he said. Alma wailed in his arms.

Ramza was silent. On the floor, here and there, lay the shattered remains of rooftop tiles.

"It hurts," Alma sobbed. 

"I know. The doctor is coming. Be strong."

Alma wept against his shirt.

"Shhh," Dycedarg said. "Breathe. Think of something else. One good thought, that's all you need. Can you think of one good memory?"

Alma, whimpering, nodded.

"Good," Dycedarg said. "Breathe. The pain is nothing. Remember. Breathe."

  


**SAGITTARIUS**

Eating stolen apples, they sprawled on the chapel floor and watched light stream through the stained glass.

"What's that one?" Delita asked.

"That's St. Ajora destroying the Impure King," Alma said. "Every window shows Ajora overcoming a different adversary, but every one is a sin. The priest said they were _allergies_ ," she added with relish.

Delita smiled in the dark. "I see."

"And that one?" Ramza mumbled through his apple.

"That's Ajora vanquishing a...crab."

Ramza snorted. "A crab?"

"Yes," Alma said fiercely. "And Ajora is _crushing_ him."

Teta, lying warmly between them, said nothing. She may have been asleep.

  


**CAPRICORN**

Every morning, before dawn, he crawled from bed, struggled into his padded shirt, and ran to the practice yard where his breath fogged the air.

"Your form is off. Hold your elbow higher."

Zalbag never offered praise. He only nodded silently and moved to the next lesson: how to hold a shield, parry a blow, grip a sword.

"No. Pay attention. Do it again."

Ramza's shirt was stained with dirt and sweat and blood. Every morning, he pulled it over his aching shoulders.

"Better. But you'd still be dead. Do it again."

Every morning, Ramza ran through the darkness gratefully.

  


**AQUARIUS**

He stumbles. The snow is soft and silent as he tumbles into it. For a few seconds, he considers what would happen if he stays down, curls up, goes to sleep.

The steady knocking continues against the inside of his skull.

He slowly rises to his feet. He does not feel the cold any longer. He can see nothing on the horizon.

_Maybe I'm dead,_ he thinks. _Good._

And then, with a painful throb in his chest: _Alma._

One good thought. That's all he needs to keep going. Just one happy memory.

He takes a breath. He takes a step.

  


**PISCES**

Ramza carried the poles and Delita had the worm pail. Alma could be trusted with nothing; she kept hopping along and bumping into them and giggling.

Teta was not there. Afterward, no one could remember why she had not come.

They rounded the hill, and there stood the pond, green and still. A cicada buzzed past them. 

"Why don't we fish more?" Alma asked. "Let's go fishing every day!"

Delita smiled down at her. "Let's."

"Until summer ends," Ramza agreed.

Alma snorted. "Must summer end? Can I carry the pail?"

"No," Ramza said at the same time Delita said, "Yes."


End file.
